(From Yonhap)

Visiting South Korea President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping warned North Korea against taking any action that could escalate tensions as they renewed calls for the resumption of long-stalled talks on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye with Chinese President Xi Jinping after their summit talk in Beijing Wednesday

China “opposes any actions that may cause tensions” and all relevant parties should make efforts to resume the six-party talks, Xi said, according to a statement.

North Korea has a track record of staging provocations as part of its brinkmanship tactics to extract concessions from outside world.

Park and Xi also stressed that a landmark 2005 nuclear deal on North Korea and U.N. resolutions on North Korea should be faithfully implemented, Cheong Wa Dae said of their summit held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

“In connection with this, the two sides voiced opposition to any act that could escalate tensions,” the presidential office said, without elaborating.

North Korea agreed to scrap its nuclear programs in exchange for diplomatic concessions and economic aid under the 2005 deal with the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.

Still, the North later backtracked from its commitment and conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, drawing international condemnation and U.N. sanctions.

Park and Xi “shared the view that meaningful six-way talks should be quickly resumed” as they took note of a recent nuclear deal reached between the United States, five world powers and Iran.

The deal is designed to curb Iran’s nuclear capabilities in return for lifting sanctions.

North Korea has already said it is not interested in Iran-style nuclear talks, claiming that Pyongyang is a nuclear weapons state and has interests as a nuclear weapons state.

The nuclear talks were last held in Beijing in late 2008 and they also involved China, Japan and Russia.

North Korea has expressed its desire to return to the talks without any preconditions.

South Korea and the U.S. have said that Pyongyang must first show its sincerity toward denuclearization before such talks can resume.

atimes.com/2015/09/park-xi-warn-north-korea-against-any-provocations/